Virtus is sticking to its core strategy of buying midcap and small-cap companies that are market leaders and earn the bulk of their revenues from domestic consumption, insulating them from global shocks.

French midcap PagesJaunes skidded 8.2% after the directories business said late Monday that second-quarter orders fell short of expectations "due to social unrest among the PagesJaunes sales force in France."

Skeptics note that, for now at least, investors are still putting their cash into small and midcap mutual funds — Lipper says they gained $2.2 billion in December, versus outflows of $7.8 billion for large caps.